The present technology relates to exercise equipment that utilizes a servo motor system to assist a person during a weight lifting activity. More specifically, the servo motor system may act as a spotter by preventing a weight from falling and contacting a person and potentially injuring a person if a person ceases to fully support the load during a weight lifting activity, or by providing assistance to complete a weight lifting activity by assisting the person in lifting a weight.
In weight or resistance training, spotting is generally the role of a person who acts in support of the person performing a particular exercise. Acting as a spotter generally includes intervening to support a portion of the weight load in order to assist with a lift when the person cannot themselves exert enough force to complete the lift, such as at the end of a series of repetitions, and can also include intervening the support of the entire weight load if the person performing the exercise becomes incapable of doing so.
Spotting is particularly prevalent, and recommended, when performing weight lifting exercises where a person could accidentally drop a weight onto themselves if something goes wrong, such as the bench press, barbell squat, skull crushers, barbell military presses, or barbell push presses. For example, FIGS. 1 and 2 illustrate a first person 10 in a supine position performing a bench press exercise with a barbell, indicated in general at 12, and a second person 14 acting as a spotter. The barbell 12 consists of a horizontally positioned bar 16 that has a bar weight “X,” and dead weights 18a and 18b that stack equally on both ends of the bar 16 to provide additional weights “Y1” and “Y2”. The total weight lifted by the first person 10, with reference to FIG. 2, is thus X+Y1+Y2. In such an example, gravity acting on the barbell 12 serves as the downward force producing element against which the person must act in performing the bench press exercise.
A disadvantage of the approach of FIGS. 1 and 2 is that a second person is required as the spotter. This limits times and locations available for workouts to those when and where a spotter is available. In addition, human spotters are subject to the errors that any human could make, such as providing too much or too little assistance or failing to pay attention during another's exercise routine. A need therefore exists for a spotting device and system whereby a second human spotter is unnecessary.